Asked by: Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Conservative - Berwick-upon-Tweed)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the costs of administering the English Rural Development Programme in each of the (a) last and (b) next five years.
Answered by George Eustice
The Common Agricultural Policy is a devolved policy and Defra is responsible for its delivery in England. Decisions relating to the implementation of the CAP are integrated into numerous policy areas within the department and the delivery of the CAP is carried out primarily by the Rural Payments Agency, Natural England, and the Forestry Commission, alongside other business. This arrangement allows the various objectives of the CAP to be delivered effectively. However, this integrated approach to delivery also makes it difficult to calculate the total annual cost of the CAP in isolation. This is something that was identified by the National Audit Office in its recent report ‘Early Development of the CAP Delivery Programme’, and Defra is currently considering how to respond to this recommendation.
Asked by: Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Conservative - Berwick-upon-Tweed)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to respond to the Farm Animal Welfare Committee's opinion on CCTV in slaughterhouses, published in February 2015; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by George Eustice
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 24 June 2015, PQs UIN 2944 and 2945.
Asked by: Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Conservative - Berwick-upon-Tweed)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support her Department is providing to tree planting programmes to at least maintain the current level of carbon capture capacity from trees.
Answered by Rory Stewart
As promised in our manifesto, we have committed to planting 11 million trees during this Parliament, which we plan to do primarily through the Rural Development Programme’s Countryside Stewardship scheme. This scheme aims to invest £18 million in new woodland planting each year. A number of other initiatives are also in place, including the Woodland Carbon Code, to attract other funding to ensure that planting rates are maintained at the average level over the previous Programme of 2,600 hectares per year. This will, according to the most recent greenhouse gas inventory projections, increase the amount of carbon removed by England’s woodlands from 5.0 million tonnes carbon dioxide in 2014 to 5.9 million tonnes in 2020.
We also remain strongly supportive of sector-led initiatives, such as Grown in Britain and the Roots to Prosperity strategy, in their work to develop and strengthen the woodland economy and thereby attract further private investment to help increase woodland creation capacity.